Cooperative effects in an ensemble of planar meta-atoms

Abstract

The modification of the radiative efficiency of meta-atoms, as the basic building blocks of a metamaterial surface, in a confined environment is presented and discussed. We demonstrate the substantial influence on their radiative lifetime in the terahertz regime when they are arranged in densely packed super-cells. The observed change of lifetime with respect to the number of meta-atoms resembles the cooperative behavior of an ensemble of excited atoms in a confined volume.